Before He was Gone
by Kelly Beck
Summary: A Sephiroth fanfiction. A young nurse is suddenly involved in the events just before Sephiroth's descent into madness. Will she be oblivious to whats to come, or can she warn Cloud and the other SOLDIERS before it's too late? R R?:
1. Chapter 1

Note: I'm a little rusty at writing these because I haven't in a while, but give me a chance. Please review and tell me what you think or what you would like to see next. Try not to aim for tough criticism. I'm not the best. Haha

I don't own the character Sephiroth, but I do own Lyric, the nurses, and the Dr.

p.s I may go for a name change for Lyric, later... not sure, but some name suggestions would be cool:]

Ciao!

I was used to feeling like somebody was watching me. It was the cold, naked feeling I got on the back of my neck, like icy water was being poured down my back or if somebody was whispering to me constantly.

"Miss, you are needed in the operation room," a thick, low voice said to me, pulling me out of my thoughts. I gave the assistant a nod and exited out of the room.

"You'll be needing some gloves today, Miss Lyric."

I looked up at the doctor who spoke to me, nodded, and then to the man lying unconscious on the flat medical slab. I tried not to gape or cringe at the sight of the SOLDIER 1st class General that was lying there, his long silver hair draped over the edge of the table.

"Concussion," Dr. Wrathsons said, and as to confirm my thoughts, "Much to everyone's surprise, I'd say." he motioned my over, "You'll be supervising him until he is well. And if you would, clean up the would. It's all on the clipboard."

I felt my stomach drop as he said this. Me, a simple nurse, caring for the most significant and high-ranked SOLDIER there was?

"I'll be back in an hour or two to check up on him," he told me, "Lutheran and Bridgens will be here shortly to aid you. Be careful with him."

The weight of the doctors last words clung to me as he closed the heavy metal door. There were no windows in the operating room, except for a large glass plate on the north wall, where I could dimly see, on the other side, a visitors area. And who would come to see this strikingly intimidating man? Scarcely anyone, I supposed.

I looked down at the man who was known a hero and jumped. Green slits stared back at me and for a moment, I thought he had awoken. Unnerved, I shook off that slithery, icy feeling on my spine and picked up the diagnostic clipboard that hung on the end of the metal table.

I scanned it, curious as to how a man so powerful could be rendered into a hospital bed. He'd fallen off a four story building? Yes, a concussion all right and another reason why I was almost afraid to touch the superhuman man. No one could have come out of an accident like that with merely a concussion- well, save for this man.

I felt around through his hair, to the uppermost part of his skull and located the miniscule bump on his scalp. Pulling my hand away, I found blood in stark contrast on my white, rubber gloves. I went to work.

It took me less than fifteen minutes and then I heard the door opening.

"Well done," Bridgens, a man in his late 20s, told me, "You got him all patched up and ready to go before we even got here."

"Guess you won't be needing us," Lutheran said, who entered the room with a glazed donut in his hand.

"He hasn't woken up yet," I said, "Just look at the clipboard."

They shrugged as they too donned their white gloves and read the diagnosis.

"Well, it had to happen sometime, didn't it?" they joked, "I guess SOLDIER isn't as superhuman as we thought…"

I frowned and then glanced over my shoulder at the sleeping general, afraid almost as if he were awake, listening to us.

"What? You spooked by the big, scary man? Sure he's respected and all, but there's no need to get all jumpy about a little joke."

I was barely listening to what my co-worker was saying. I had just felt the chill again, and it was worse than ever.

"Be quiet," I said, unaware of my own voice, "If your going to joke, then go back to the lounge where you need to be. I'll just let Dr. Wrathsons handle this patient."

They frowned at me, shrugged, and then left. Good riddance.

I didn't mean to be so hostile but… something was wrong. In this hospital, in this room, I felt it. Something, besides the sleeping man and I, was around.

I turned back to the general, avoiding his blank gaze. I draped a white blanket over his tall, broad form, covering up his chest and legs, and tucked it under the table. Something clattered out his black uniform pocket and I retrieved it. A small, glowing red orb. Fire materia. Whatever would a strong man like this need with fire materia? He could merely look at building and set it aflame.

I frowned but placed the orb in my pocket, reminding myself to return it to him later.

I cast my eyes over him, curious at his appearance. He didn't look hurt. In fact, he looked only as though he were napping. I felt like a small child peeking at something I shouldn't as I scrutinized the general's face. His fair skin contained bronze undertones and his open eyes were green and glazed from sleep. A small section of his long, silver mane was tinged brown from dried blood.

When he woke up, he would be offered a shower, hot food, a warm bed, many hospitalities that a normal SOLDIER would be denied. This man was important and priceless, a treasure and a great attribute to SOLDIER and Shinra. Of course he would be offered all those things, and the respect and dignity that went along with it all.

I looked at the clipboard one more time, scanning it and found the General Info. column.

Patient name: Sephiroth

Age: 24

Diagnosis: mild concussion, some bleeding.

"Wow…" I mouthed. This man was so young to already be such a respected general.

"Don't be so shocked."

I jumped and it took me a moment to realize that it was the man on the medical table, Sephiroth, who had spoken to me.

"Your awake. Good," I said, trying not to stutter and stumble over my words. The cool, attractive slither of his voice caused me to shiver for the millionth time. I shifted back to my professional stance, "You are in my care until your doctor returns. If you are feeling dizzy or disoriented in any way, let me know now."

I looked down at him to see his glowing eyes catch mine and felt my heart race. I wonder if he could sense it.

He frowned, "Do not go by the insignificance of a mere piece of paper. The diagnosis is wrong. I am fine."

I didn't know what to say to that but answered, "Dr. Wrathsons will arrive shortly, then. I will tell him of your complaints and he will-"

"I said I am fine."

"-give you some place more comfortable to stay."

I looked at him evenly. In an instant, he sat up and I stumbled back, frightened by his sudden movements. Such fast reflexes, I thought. No wonder he's so high ranked. He could break me in an instant, crush my bones with one hand, frighten me to a puddle with only one glance-

The door swung open behind me and I felt a cool sense of relief when Dr. Wrathsons walked in, accompanied by two nurses. His eyes fell on the general.

"Why, sir, you've awoken." he glanced at me, "I'm sorry for the incompetence of my nurse. She was supposed to contact me at the mark of your awakening."

I opened my mouth to protest, but then the general spoke for me, "I've only just woke up. Your nurse was about to contact you."

I stepped aside, taken aback by the fact that he's even said something to my defense.

"Very well. Nurse Lyric, you may leave."

And I was grateful to leave. Another second under either the strict doctor or intimidating general's eye and I would've lost it.

I looked up the large, metal clock that was mounted on the stark white wall. 8:42 p.m. It was past time for my shift to be over. No wonder I was so exhausted. I pulled my coat and bag from my nurses cabinet and headed to the front desk to clock out. I stopped when I felt a warm presence in my pocket. The materia- I'd forgotten to return it. Wheeling around back down the hallway, I found room 342 and peered inside to see darkness. He was already gone? Damn it, what a thief I was!

Sighing, I decided to return to it to him later, as frightening as that sounded.

The cool night air didn't chill me as I left the hospital, but one chill did remain. I gripped the warm materia in my hand and left.


	2. Chapter 2

The power was out. It was dark and disorienting as I rolled over in bed, fished my cell phone from my bag, and looked at the time. 2:32 a.m. I sighed and reached to my bedside lamp. Dead. Completely dead. I wondered how long it had been since the outage.

The fire materia glowed crimson in the dark, and I compared it to two glowing eyes. I shivered again and pulled the covers up over my cold chest and shoulders.

The Mako reactors would be fixed tomorrow and everything was going to be fine. Why then, couldn't I go back to sleep? I glanced at the illuminating materia, sighed, and then shoved them into the dresser drawer. The room went black.

I'd worked part-time in the Midgar City Hospital for a while now, as barely-there Registered Nurse. After mom died, I'd taken up her job there, even thought I'm only 17. It seemed as though everybody was hired young. In the hospital, in Midgar, in SOLDIER…

"Nurse, Dr. Wrathsons needs you in room 219." the same assistant from last night told me and I shook off my afore thoughts. I nodded and headed straight there, the coffee I'd had that morning barely starting to kick in.

"Broken arm," the gray headed doctor told me as I walked in, "I've got everything set. You do the honors?"

He left, handing me a bundle of beige fabric. I went to the young man sitting on the medical slab- who looked quite stoic even with an injury- and coiled the fabric where Dr. Wrathsons had indicated.

"Your general…" I started, surprised at my own voice, "He left this here last night. Could you return it to him?" I asked.

The man looked at me and I saw that he was only about 17, close to my own age. I expected him to say, "Sure, I'll have that back to him in a jiffy," but I'd expected too much from a man who'd barely ever smiled before.

"The general is busy today. He and a few others were headed down to the reactor at Mt. Nibel. I can not take it to him." he slid off the table and left.

My hopes were only down for a moment. Mt. Nibel. The reactor for my town was there. Sephiroth had probably went there to check up on it there due to the outage last night. I was in luck.

I clocked out at the front at 2:30 that afternoon, hoping that I could find him before he left.

Something lingered in my mind, though… Why was I so bent on giving the materia back? I'd never met Sephiroth until yesterday and he'd been the same as any other SOLDIER I'd ever encountered. Maybe I bit more intimidating, a bit more articulate, but still…

I remembered when I was a kid, I'd known a boy in the village. We weren't close but he spoke to everyone, including me, about his dream to join SOLDIER. There had rumors that he had made it, but I was never sure if those were true. A lot of boys had big dreams like that, but most of the time they stayed dreams. I wonder if the general had been like that. Maybe that's why I was so drawn to seeing him again, because it brought back a memory.

But that chill, those eyes of his, there was something peculiar about all of it. I had to find out.


	3. Chapter 3

The pretty tourist girl with the dark hair and a cowgirl costume approached me, grinning broadly.

"Hi Lyric!" she said, "It's been a while since I've saw you around here. Where've you been?"

"Working late over at the hospital," I sighed, but then smiled back at her, "It's good to see you again, though."

Tifa Lockhart was only a year and half younger than me, but seemed much older and a lot more outgoing. I'd known her since we were kids.

"So how's business?" I asked, refering to her touring job, "Anything interesting?"

"Yeah, actually. I met a few SOLDIERS today. Even the general was with them."

I started in surprise, "The general was here? Has he left yet?"

Tifa laughed at my eagerness, "Your not some fan of his, are you? Though he _is _kind of cool…"

I immediately felt stupid. Of course that's what I sounded like. Some dumb fan girl looking for an autograph.

"No, I'm not. I just had to give him these back," I answered, holding up the fire materia.

Tifa's eyes grew big, "Wow, how'd you get those?"

"He was actually at the hospital last night, believe it or not. All the doctors were fussing over a tiny little cut he had." I laughed, but, remembering his piercing, green gaze, I stopped. "Yeah, he really is kind of scary though. I just never thought I'd get to meet him."

"Me nether," Tifa answered, "I showed him and a few others with him around the town. In fact, I don't think they've even left to go to the reactor yet. You wanna go see if you can find him?"

I nodded and she led me out into the village square. I immediately saw the tall general and the men with him, talking to a few men from the village.

"General Sephiroth," I greeted, already feeling swallowed up by his long shadow that spilt over me, "Hi. We met last night." I smiled brightly and he nodded at me.

"I remember you. The nurse that attended to me." he said and immediately got the same chill from last night. Despite people's claims that he was a hero and a combat genius, his voice sounded so sinister. Maybe it was just me.

"I just wanted to give these back to you," I said, and held up the red, ever-glowing orbs.

"Did I give you these?" he asked and I felt so small.

"No, they fell out of your pocket while you were asleep. I didn't steal them, I swear-"

"Calm down, he doesn't bite," came another voice. I turned to see one of the SOLDIERs that had been talking to Tifa. He had a friendly face and dark, spiky hair, "Seph's a nice guy."

I was taken aback at the casualness of this man's tone towards his leader, but didn't say anything.

I felt my face burning in embarrassment. I felt like such a little kid.

"Thank you for returning these," the general said, looking down at me.

"Lyric, this is Zack," Tifa told me, gesturing to the friendly SOLDIER, "He's here with General Sephiroth to check out the reactor up on Mt. Nibel."

Zack grinned at me and then he and Tifa were at it again, discussing something about a 'blonde SOLDIER'.

"So do you feel any better?" I asked the silver-haired general, "That was a nasty cut you had."

"It was barely bothersome," he said, all the aspects of a collected general fitting into that one sentence.

And again, he had the power to make feel like a kid who'd just stumbled into a room full of grown ups.

"Great!" said brightly, "So you think you'll be able to fix the reactor? All the power was out last night."

"It's probably just faulty wiring, nothing too complicated. It's strange that I should meet you twice within a 24-hour period."

"I live here," I grinned, "And Tifa's a good friend of mine."

I felt my stomach lurch when he looked down at me, his eyes sharp enough to coerce anybody. I was taken back to the memory of last night, when those same eyes looked up at me from the medical table, and shivered.

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came up. I cleared my throat.

"We'll be leaving soon," the general told me. He pocketed the materia I'd returned and gestured to Zack.

"Go and get the other SOLDIER that came with you." he said and then looked at Tifa, "Kindly show us up the mountain?"

She grinned as if to agree, her bright cheer something I could never genuinely pull off.

"Thank you for your assistance," he said to me politely, and before he could be bombarded by any more questioning villages, he Zack, and Tifa set off for toward Mt. Nibel.

I looked after the three of them as they left, suddenly wishing that I could go, too.


End file.
